


out of nowhere

by softresurrection



Series: hello there, new friend [1]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, First Meetings, Jon and Sansa Are Not Related, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-18
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2019-07-14 02:42:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16031303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softresurrection/pseuds/softresurrection
Summary: So, there she was. A single girl, drinking wine in a bathtub, all alone on a Friday night.





	out of nowhere

**Author's Note:**

> anything u recognise? absolutely not mine. im just a bored lunatic.

Sansa raised a pale hand, keeping her eyes trained on the rivulet streaming down her forearm and dripping back down into the piping hot bathwater. She dropped her head back onto the edge of the tub, sighing deeply. As she raised the glass of rosè in her other hand towards her mouth, she heard a voice that sounded suspiciously like Robb’s in her brain, telling her that she was being more melodramatic than strictly needed. 

Sansa resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Screw Robb with all his optimism and relationship advice. For the past year, he’d been insufferable due to his reasoning that since Jeyne had finally taken enough pity on him to tie her name to his sorry ass forever, he was a relationship maester. Gods, all he did was sit around and say vaguely deep things. 

That wouldn’t have been so bad on it’s own, really, but add in the fact that Sansa had never been able to have a decent romantic relationship in all her twenty four years, and there she was. His favourite little charity case. In the past seven months, Sansa had been on nine blind dates, each one worse than the last. 

First, there had been Cley. He had been one of Jeyne’s old friends from secondary school. That had not turned out well. As it had turned out, Cley spent most of the night deep in a glass of wine, moaning about how Jeyne had never returned his love. Sansa had, not being a totally irredeemable person, paid the bill and then got him back to his flat when it proved that he had gotten too drunk to stand up on his own. She hadn’t mentioned how that one had went to Robb. 

Then, there came Edwyle Roberts. Eddie was a friend of Robb’s from the hospital. They didn’t know each other all that well but Eddie apparently ‘seems perfect for you, Sans!’ and so, she had gone. As a nice gesture, she’d let Eddie pick the place. One would think the good karma would come back. Right? No, very wrong. As it turned out, Edwyle was, as the name suggested, about as interesting as her eighth standard history professor. He had talked about his job as a plastic surgeon for the better part of two hours after which Sansa had broken and called for the check. 

The third guy had been gay, the fourth one had only talked about sex for an hour and a half, the fifth one had not been over his dead wife yet, and on and on and on. 

That evening, Sansa had gotten ready for the big tenth. She’d only agreed on the condition that it was the last time Robb or Jeyne would ever even mention a date to her. 

However, when she’d got there, Damon had surprised her. He’d been sweet, thoughtful, funny and very intelligent. She had really liked the guy, shockingly enough. He had even insisted on walking her back. That was when things had taken a wrong turn. When Sansa pointed out that they had reached her apartment building, he took the liberty to invite himself up for “coffee”. When Sansa had gently put a halt on the action, and said that she wanted to take it slow, it was like he had suddenly gotten a personality transplant. It was almost scary how quickly nice, cute Damon had become a Class A douchebag when denied sex. 

So, there she was. A single girl, drinking wine in a bathtub, all alone on a Friday night. Were all men either assholes or crazy? Sansa forced her mind to think positively, at least she could relax in the quiet and mull over things in peace, right? 

The sudden noise from upstairs was so loud it almost made her jump out of the bath. It was quickly followed by the sound of a dog barking and the thumping of a tail on the thin floors separating the upper flat and hers. A mans muffled voice was also audible. 

Sansa abruptly stood up, soaking wet and dripping all over. The new neighbor had a dog? The new neighbor had a dog! 

She hurried out of the bath, tugging on fresh jean shorts and a warm jumper as she wrestled with her hair to not frizz up dreadfully on her head as it dried. The mane won, of course. 

As she made for the door, she realized she probably would sound crazy without a cover. Sansa thrust a desperate look at her flat, searching for something to give to the new neighbor. Cookies would take too long. And then her eyes fell on the small garden on her balcony. Sansa almost felt like it was meant to be. She quickly picked up a pot that contained an orchid, giving it a quick look and inspecting whether it could be given as a housewarming present. Deciding affirmatively, Sansa all but ran out of her apartment. 

As she bounded up the stairs, her mind caught up with her and she slowed her pace, wondering whether she even wanted to do it. Her heart insisted, yes of course she wanted to do it. She was distraught and there was a dog upstairs. Instant solution. Her brain, however, told her to think it through. Was it really okay to barge in on a stranger and demand to play with their dog? In the end, her heart won out. 

If she was being honest, it hadn’t even been a real dilemma. As if anything could keep her from playing with a dog when she was this upset. When Sansa reached the new neighbour’s apartment, directly above hers, she ran her free hand through her hair before knocking quickly. 

The door opened only a few seconds later, and the stranger looked out. He had his wallet in his hand and it was obvious that he’d been expecting somebody else. Sansa waved awkwardly. 

The man, the very handsome man, she noted, looked very confused. “Where’s the pizza?”

Sansa smiled winningly, the one smile that always charmed old ladies, before speaking. “I’m sure it’s almost here. I’m not the delivery girl though, sorry. I’m your neighbour.” 

The grey eyed man looked chagrined, “Oh, shit, sorry. I thought my pizza was here. Uh, would you like to come in? It’s still very dirty, I’m sorry.”

Sansa walked in as he stepped aside, a nervous smile still on her face. Instead of really saying anything, she shoved the orchid at him. 

He looked at it for a few seconds, not seeming to understand what exactly was going on, before he apparently realised. “Oh! That’s for me! Sorry, I didn’t realise. It’s beautiful, thank you.”

She grinned, he obviously didn’t really know what to do with it. “That’s okay, I just thought I should have an excuse to come meet you, to be honest. I’m Sansa Stark, I live right below you.”

The man ran a nervous hand through his raven-black hair. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Jon. I hope my dog isn’t causing you too much trouble? I’ll try to get him to be quieter if that’s what it is.”

Sansa smiled warmly, finally reaching the motivation behind her actions. “No, of course not. It’s a pet friendly building, I don’t mind. It’s just that- well, Jon, can I be frank with you?”

Jon looked even more confused, nodding warily at her to continue. He wasn’t a big smiler, this one. It was a shame, she thought, he would have the most beautiful face when he smiled. 

“Uh, I mean, sure. Do your worst?” His words came out like a question. 

Sansa geared herself up. “Well, I was wondering, if your dog’s friendly with strangers, could I maybe- sort of, play with him for a while?” There, she’d done it. She’d asked the gorgeous new guy whether she could play with his dog whom she’d never met before either. Sansa was officially the weird neighbour. 

Jon’s entire body seemed to lose a line of tension that it had somehow been carrying. He looked much more relaxed, all of a sudden. “Oh, Ghost’s very friendly. I just shut him in my room to open the door. He’s a big dog, though, you sure you wanna play with him?” He seemed much more comfortable now that they were talking about his dog. 

Sansa grinned. He was taking her out of the blue request much better than she’d expected. “That’s great! The bigger, the better. My entire family had Siberian huskies when we were younger so I’m used to it.”

“Oh, amazing, Ghost’s a Siberian too!” Jon exclaimed. He looked excited now that he knew what her actual purpose for coming over was. “Let me just bring him out.”

Sansa smiled at him and waited as he moved to open a door in the hallway. As soon as it opened, the large white dog came bounding out, straight towards Sansa. 

Thankfully, years of instinct kicked in and instead of getting flustered by the sudden movement, she immediately knelt down and offered Ghost her hand to scent. After he had licked her hand a few times and assured himself that she wasn’t a threat to Jon, Ghost jumped on her. 

Sansa laughed, feeling happier than she had in months. The experience of playing with a friendly dog was very hard to beat for her. Especially since Ghost was a beautiful husky, he was an albino and his fur was immaculate. It was obvious that Jon spent a lot of time caring for him. 

As she petted the underside of Ghost’s belly and his neck, Sansa felt Jon sit down beside her right there on the floor. She repressed a big smile before realising that she didn’t have to and then she grinned widely. “Who’s a good boy? Who’s a good boy? It’s you, yes it’s you. Yes, you are, you are, you are!” Sansa giggled, speaking to the dog like it was a baby. 

Jon laughed beside her. “He hasn’t been treated like that in a pretty long time. Be careful, he’ll get used to it.” 

Sansa looked at him, still patting Ghost’s coat. “Beautiful boy like that? He should be used to getting spoiled constantly!”

Her neighbour only chuckled again. “Even when he wakes me up at three in the morning for a piss?”

She giggled, turning back to Ghost. “You can do that part.”

Jon looked hesitant for a second before talking again, probably already having guessed. “So, I can’t help but notice that you don’t have a dog anymore? There’s never any barking from your flat.”

Sansa sighed. She didn’t want to particularly talk about Lady, it still always made her heart hurt. “Well, I told you we all had the same family of dogs, right? A few years ago, though, Lady got cancer in her stomach. We got lots of treatments but I had to put her down in the end. I couldn’t even bear that, if we’re being honest. My dad did it for me. It hurt really bad, she was like my best friend.”

Jon looked stricken, apologetic for having asked. “I’m so sorry. You didn’t deserve that.” He paused, as if to think. “Lady’s a very pretty name, though. I bet Ghost would have liked her.”

She appreciated his effort towards trying to make her feel better. She forcibly cheered herself up. It wouldn’t do to sulk in other people’s homes. Her mother had taught her better. She turned back towards Ghost, playing with him a bit more energetically. “I’m sure he would have. I already love him. Is that weird to say?”

Jon laughed right with her. “I fall in love with about ten dogs every day while I’m walking Ghost in the dog park.”

“I used to go sit in the dog park sometimes when I needed cheering up. I love that place.” Sansa replied to him, noting how easily conversation flowed with him. If only he had been one of her Dates From Hell. Maybe they wouldn’t have gotten such a bad reputation then. 

Sansa sat there for about an hour and a half more. The pizza had arrived a few minutes after Ghost had gotten lazy and went to sleep right there in Sansa’s lap. Then, Jon had told there was too much for one person to eat. So, she stayed, despite her better judgement, until almost two in the morning. 

As Jon walked her out, after she sprinkled a few kisses on Ghost’s drowsy face, he looked nervous. At the door, when she turned around to face him, she raised an inquiring eyebrow. 

Finally, he spilled. “Would you wanna- maybe- come over again tomorrow night? I don’t know anybody here yet so I’m free and you could- maybe, come play with Ghost and we could, you know, just sit and talk again?”

Sansa grinned widely. “Oh, I was already planning on it.” With a quick kiss on the cheek to Jon that surprised even herself, she quickly spun and walked away.

**Author's Note:**

> not sure yet if id continue this into a full fic but i might  
> thanks for reading <3333


End file.
